Embrace change and challenges wholeheartedly

JAIPUR, INDIA: “Embrace change and challenges wholeheartedly,” said Pradeep Gupta, chairman and managing director, CyberMedia. He was delivering the welcome address at the CIOL C-Change 2014 event. The CIOL C-Change 2014 is supported by PC Quest and CyberMedia Research.

Gupta said that #CChange2014 is here and it give me great pride in welcoming you all today at a stage which has been catapulting CIOs and industry to new levels with new themes every year since its onset. Whether it’s Egypt, Kathmandu, Kerala, Goa or Jaipur; no matter which part of the atlas we are in; at events like these, CyberMedia has been trying its best to push old boundaries and discover the future afresh.

This year incidentally that’s the theme driving this three-day Technology and Business conference – Preparing the Future. It’s not an easy thing to even spell out the word with confidence. Future- it is always foggy, evasive, unpredictable, faster than us and always full of surprises.

Do we sit back and enjoy the mystery then? Or do we become obsessive about controlling the mirrors and crystal balls that have always been beyond our grasp?

I have a better answer – why don’t we connect the dots left strewn by our past years and use them as a dartboard to hopscotch into tomorrow?

From where I stand, I can see that’s not too impossible an ambition. Right here, we have and are going to have some ace industry veterans, some sharp analysts, some ‘hard to ignore’ industry players and of course, the bow that holds it all – you CIOs. This is the perfect cauldron to whip up a glimpse of what tomorrow is about to bring us, said Gupta.

Gupta suggested a ten-pronged fork to relish this buffet.

1. Embrace change and its challenges as whole-heartedly as rebels and revolutionaries have done in different walks of life and different pages of history.

2. Have the courage to dive head-deep into unknown waters because the trappings of our comfort zones can be devious to pull us back.

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3. Don’t be afraid to experiment whole-heartedly with a new disruption but be sure not to dip both your toes in unknown waters

4. Trust your instincts and experience. No level of software or intelligence can replace that magic strength.

5. The best way to be ahead-of-the-curve is to be there before others are. Try ideas ahead of their times for the sheer reason that the verdict on them is still awaited.

6. Avoid anything piece-meal in approach if you want to change scenarios and not just a page.

7. Sometimes, even if it not pays immediately, it’s worth being a selfless catalyst for pushing something bigger than you, your organisation.

8. Have guts. Consultants can diagnose, but only good bosses can feel the pain-points and take the plunge.